No. 1 – 1940 Sugar Bowl
This bowl game comes in at No. 1 because it delivered the Aggies their only national championship.
Heading into the game, the 1939 Aggies had only given up 18 points. They had shutout six teams including back to back shutouts of Rice and Texas heading into the Sugar Bowl game against Tulane. In fact, four of the last five regular season games were shutouts. The only team to score on the Aggies after Oct. 21 was a safety by SMU on Nov. 11.
As for the Green Wave, they were 8-0-1 heading into the bowl game. Their only blemish was a 14-14 tie against North Carolina in the fourth game. Tulane would enter the bowl game ranked No. 5 and been ranked in the top 10 all year.
The game started with John Kimbrough scoring first the give the Aggies a 7-0 lead. Tulane would then return a punt in the second quarter and convert on an Aggie turnover to take a 13-7 lead after Herbie Smith blocked the extra point on the Green Wave’s second touchdown.
That blocked PAT would end up being the difference in the game when the Aggies scored on a lateral to Kimbrough. With the PAT the Aggies took a 14-13 lead and would end up holding on to complete an undefeated season to capture the AP national championship.
Kimbrough would rush for 159 yards in the game on 25 carries. A&M coach Homer Norton had no problem expressing what he thought of Kimbrough after the game saying, “He’s the greatest football player in the world. And you can put my name on that with a picture.”
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The Aggies would finish 11-0 for the first time in school history. The only other teams to finish unbeaten or untied were in 1917 and 1919. The teams in 1902, 1909, 1927, 1956 and 1994 are the only other teams to finish without a loss.